Walter Lilly Celebrate The Topping Out Of The Nature Activity Centre And Garden Kitchen At The Urban Nature Project
Another milestone has been reached at the Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum! We are celebrating the topping out of the Nature Activity Centre supported by AWS and Garden Kitchen.
Nature Activity Centre supported by AWS is a 200m2 timber and stone building. It will combine vital facilities for scientific work, monitoring, learning activities, maintenance and supporting the volunteer community so important to the upkeep of the gardens. The new centre will allow improved access, legibility and interpretation of the Nature Discovery Garden, expanding the important scientific work of the Museum and encouraging community science activities.
Garden Kitchen is a 660m2 timber and stone building. It is multipurpose, functioning as a café space, events space and a seasonal storage and display space for the more exotic plants in the Evolution Garden. It is designed in the spirit of historic Victorian garden.
The Urban Nature Project is the Natural History Museum’s response to the growing pressures of urbanisation and biodiversity loss on people and planet. It aims to give people across the UK, no matter who they are or where they live, the motivation and tools to safeguard nature in towns and cities.
Change starts at home, with the transformation of the Museum’s five-acre gardens into a welcoming, accessible and biologically diverse green space in the heart of London.
The project is transforming the underused garden into an urban oasis, telling the story of change on our planet over time. New areas of habitat will allow nature to flourish, and create a living laboratory where scientists can monitor, record and study urban wildlife.
Architects Feilden Fowles, working closely with landscape architects J&L Gibbons, are leading a multidisciplinary design team which includes Gitta Gschwendtner, engineers HRW and Max Fordham. As the principal contractor, we are proud to deliver the project as a net zero carbon and zero waste.
The design team have worked closely with the Museum’s scientists to sensitively develop a series of outdoor living galleries, providing opportunities to learn about and explore nature. Integrated within the landscaping are two new buildings: Nature Activity Centre supported by AWS; and Garden Kitchen.